Does attention alter appearance?

Abrupt onsets in the visual field can change the appearance of subsequent stimuli, according to one interpretation, by engaging an attentional mechanism that increases effective stimulus contrast. However, abrupt onsets can also engage capacity-unlimited and thus attention-independent sensory mechanisms. We conducted a series of experiments to differentiate the sensory and attentional accounts. Observers compared the contrasts of uncued low-contrast peripheral targets with simultaneous targets cued by one of three cue types with different sensory attributes: white or black peripheral abrupt onsets and central gaze direction cues devoid of sensory activity near the target locations. Each cue facilitated the perception of perithreshold targets; however, the white abrupt onsets increased the perceived contrast of suprathreshold targets, whereas the black abrupt onsets tended to reduce the perceived contrast, and the gaze direction cues had no significant effect. The effectiveness of the gaze direction cues in automatically orienting attention was demonstrated in a control experiment in which they consistently speeded response times. The results suggest that sensory interaction, and not attention, is responsible for changes in appearance.     

Semantic aspects of morphological processing: transparency effects in Serbian

We examined the contribution of semantics to morphological facilitation in the visual lexical decision task at two stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) with Serbian materials. Primes appeared in Roman or Cyrillic characters. Targets always were printed in Roman. When primes were presented at an SOA of 250 msec, decision latencies to verbal targets (e.g., VOLIM) showed greatest facilitation after inflectionally (e.g., VOLE) related primes, significantly less after semantically transparent derived primes (e.g., ZAVOLE), and less again after semantically opaque derived primes (e.g., PREVOLE). Latencies after semantically transparent and opaque derived target words did not differ at an SOA of 48 msec. Both were slower than after inflectionally related primes. Stated generally, effects of semantic transparency among derivationally related verb forms were evident at long SOAs, but not at short ones. Under alphabet-alternating conditions, magnitudes of facilitation were greater overall, but the pattern was similar. The outcome suggests that restricted processing time for the prime limits the contribution of semantics to morphological processing and calls into question accounts that posit a task-invariant semantic criterion for morphological decomposition within the lexicon.     

Beyond fabrication and plagiarism: The little murders of everyday science

Much of the focus of programs designed to promote responsible conduct in research has traditionally been on the high crimes of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism. We believe that equally deserving of our attention are the misdemeanors that also can occur. Viewed as individual events, these "little murders" are far less serious. Yet, we believe that in the aggregate they can do great harm, not the least because they can set the stage for far greater crimes.     

Components of visual prior entry

The prior entry hypothesis contends that attention accelerates sensory processing, shortening the time to perception. Typical observations supporting the hypothesis may be explained equally well by response biases, changes in decision criteria, or sensory facilitation. In a series of experiments conducted to discriminate among the potential mechanisms, observers judged the simultaneity or temporal order of two stimuli, to one of which attention was oriented by exogenous, endogenous, gaze-directed, or multiple exogenous cues. The results suggest that prior entry effects are primarily caused by sensory facilitation and attentional modifications of the decision mechanism, with only a small part possibly due to an attention-dependent sensory acceleration.     

Which comes first: employee attitudes or organizational financial and market performance?

Employee attitude data from 35 companies over 8 years were analyzed at the organizational level of analysis against financial (return on assets; ROA) and market performance (earnings per share: EPS) data using lagged analyses permitting exploration of priority in likely causal ordering. Analyses revealed statistically significant and stable relationships across various time lags for 3 of 7 scales. Overall Job Satisfaction and Satisfaction With Security were predicted by ROA and EPS more strongly than the reverse (although some of the reverse relationships were also significant); Satisfaction With Pay suggested a more reciprocal relationship with ROA and EPS. The discussion of results provides a preliminary framework for understanding issues surrounding employee attitudes, high-performance work practices, and organizational financial and market performance.     

The relationship of anger and social skills to psychological symptoms

The link between anger, social skills, and psychological symptoms was investigated in a college population. Seven hundred and nine individuals were administered the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Anger Inventory, the Social Problem Solving Inventory, the Social Skills Inventory, and a series of questions about the degree to which anger affected their lives. Symptomatology was measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory and served as the criterion measure for a series of multiple regression analyses. Results indicated that both anger and social factors related to measures of psychological distress. Implications of the relationship between anger, social skills, and psychological symptoms are discussed in terms of research and assessment of individuals who may suffer from anger problems.     

Connections among symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: a case series

Theoretical, clinical, and empirical implications of the functional connections between symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are abundant. As such, four cases are presented here of men and women who met criteria for comorbid OCD and PTSD. All had been diagnosed with treatment-resistant OCD and were seeking treatment from an OCD specialty clinic or institute, all reported a history of traumatic experiences prior to the onset of OCD, and all appeared to demonstrate negative treatment outcomes. Upon examination, it appeared that symptoms of OCD and PTSD were connected such that decreases in OCD-specific symptoms related to increases in PTSD-specific symptoms, and increases in OCD-specific symptoms related to decreases in PTSD-specific symptoms. Speculations about the function of OCD symptoms in relation to post-traumatic psychopathology are put forth; and theoretical, research, and treatment implications are discussed.     

Prison wardens' perception of psychosocial and service needs of incarcerated women

Wardens and administrators of 77 women's correctional facilities were mailed a questionnaire designed to assess the psychosocial and service needs of incarcerated female inmates nationally. 35 completed surveys were returned. Representativeness of the sample is discussed. Analysis identified attitudes about recent correctional trends perceived by wardens, including concerns about child care while incarcerated.     

American and Japanese women use different coping strategies during normal pregnancy

In this longitudinal study, pregnant women in Japan and the United States reported on three coping strategies. Two are individually phrased: personal influence over outcomes and acceptance of outcomes. The third, social assurance, is grounded in relationships, noting that close others can influence outcomes. A European American sample rated acceptance highest as a strategy, whereas Japanese women rated social assurance highest. For Americans, acceptance correlated with better pregnancy outcomes (less distress over time, better prenatal care, and less weight gain). For Japanese women, social assurance predicted a more positive maternal relationship. Acceptance correlated with less Time 1 distress in both samples. Surprisingly, personal influence generally did not predict positive outcomes in either sample, perhaps because normal pregnancy is a time-limited event with a positive prognosis. The findings are consistent with the view that well-being is related to individual variables in the United States but also to features of social relationships in Japan.     

Binocular vision enhances phase discrimination by filtering the background.

Previous studies have shown that the detectability of a noise-masked target can be enhanced under stereoscopic viewing when the target's interocular disparity differs from that of the noise. This enhanced detectability can be accounted for by a model postulating that the binocular system linearly sums the left-eye and right-eye views of a visual scene. This model also predicts enhanced phase discrimination under specifiable interocular disparities of target and noise. Two experiments were conducted in which subjects were asked to discriminate between two luminance patterns (target and foil) that differed only in phase. The target patterns were constructed by summating two vertical sinusoidal gratings in which the phase difference between the higher and the lower spatial frequency gratings was 45 degrees. The foils contained the same two component frequencies, with a phase difference of -45 degrees. Thus, targets and foils were mirror images of one another. The ability of subjects to discriminate between these stereoscopically viewed mirror-image patterns was investigated under two sets of interocular disparities: those that, according to our model, would unmask one or both spatial frequency components, and those that would leave both components masked by the noise. Phase discrimination was enhanced only when both component frequencies of the target and foil were unmasked. The implications of these findings for template-matching and phase-discrimination models of pattern discrimination are considered.